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An evaluation of offsite construction skill profiles

Buddhini Ginigaddara (Centre for Smart Modern Construction, School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia)
Srinath Perera (Centre for Smart Modern Construction, School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia)
Yingbin Feng (Centre for Smart Modern Construction, School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia)
Payam Rahnamayiezekavat (Centre for Smart Modern Construction, School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia)

Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction

ISSN: 1366-4387

Article publication date: 22 February 2021

Issue publication date: 18 February 2022

825

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to evaluate the existing and emerging Offsite Construction (OSC) skills. Construction industry is inherently labour oriented, fashioning poor labour productivity, low sustainability, slow and costly processes. These shortcomings promote OSC alongside driving forces such as industrialisation, automation and digitalisation. However, the traditional construction skills are not on par with the complexity, where robots, co-bots and digital-driven automated systems create the need for novel OSC skills.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collection is executed through a Roundtable activity hosting Construction Management academics form Australian universities specialising in construction technology. They engaged in ranking of skills along with creating a word cloud for the question, “what are the future construction skills that will be more beneficial in an OSC platform?” Word cloud is reviewed in a discussion approach while skills ranking data is analysed using descriptive statistics.

Findings

The most prominent OSC skills are logistics manager, project manager and digital producer. Attributes of skills that come under construction trades workers, design, engineering and specialist professionals will vary based on onsite-offsite percentage combination in a construction project. Study reviews the required construction skills at two ends of a continuum featuring the trade-based skills; bricklayer, concreter and carpenter at one end (traditional build) and the heavily digitalised and automated skills at the other end (OSC). The noticeable transition towards OSC urges industry practitioners, policy-makers and education providers to focus on understanding and cultivating key OSC skills.

Originality/value

This study describes the transition of skills from onsite to OSC. It is presented as one of the earliest attempts to evaluate OSC skill profiles.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Authors acknowledge the scholarship awarded by the Centre for Smart Modern Construction of the Western Sydney University to the Doctoral Researcher to conduct research in Offsite Construction Skills. Also, the assistance provided by the data providers at the Academic Roundtable event is highly appreciated.

Citation

Ginigaddara, B., Perera, S., Feng, Y. and Rahnamayiezekavat, P. (2022), "An evaluation of offsite construction skill profiles", Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 16-28. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMPC-08-2020-0057

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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